Chris Eaton

Item: What Kind Of Love
Author: Paul Michael Carhart

What Kind Of Love

(1997)

Reviewed by Paul Michael Carhart

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Label Alliance MusicThe LighthouseUnsorted 1998

ccm pop synth pop

What do you get when one of Christian music's most prolific songwriters releases an album of his own? In the case of Chris Eaton, you get a wide array of extremely listenable pop songs that bring glory to God, comment on life on planet Earth, and just plain make you feel good.

The "problem" with Chris Eaton's music is that it is so widely liked within the industry. Often this results in his songs being recorded by a myriad of other artists. Indeed, one can find Eaton's tunes on recent releases by Michelle Tumes, Amy Grant and Jaci Velasquez. While other artists are releasing Eaton's songs as singles from their albums (Eaton's "God So Loved The World" shares existence on What Kind Of Love as well as being an early single from Velasquez's new release), Eaton gives us a chance to hear the songs the way he envisioned them as well.

Released in Europe last year with a different title, What Kind Of Love continues the effects-laden, heavily synthesized pop stylings of his 1995 release, Wonderful World - plenty of soulful ballads with a rocker ("Ordinary People" even has live drums in it) thrown in for good measure. Highlights include his Celtic-influenced "Boat Of Devotion," the aforementioned sure-fire Jaci Velasquez hit, the title track, co-written by Amy Grant, and the extremely light-hearted hidden eleventh track, in which Eaton croons about enjoying life and how great a day it is - a fun topper to the entire project.

In addition to his songwriting popularity, Chris Eaton is a top rate performer himself. And it is no coincidence that many of the artists who perform his music are women - Eaton has quite the vocal range, seemingly able to hit the higher notes effortlessly and writing his music to match. Eaton's control is also remarkable, making all of his hard work look much too easy.

Eaton donned the producer's hat as well for this album and makes a seamless transition from his previous project. In fact, both projects could have been recorded yesterday or both could have been recorded back in the eighties. The fact is that Chris Eaton's music is timeless, much like the God it reflects.

Hopefully, he won't wait so long for the next one.